In OKC today we held a protest of the FBI raids and harassment. We got a permit from the city to do it on one of the corners where the federal building is, which happens to be diagonally across from the Murrah bombing memorial and museum.

But security guards from the federal building, and the cops they called, forced us, on threat of arrest on federal charges, to go to another corner. We went to the Murrah corner, primarily because street construction in that whole area limited the choices and it had the most room so that we didn’t block other pedestrian traffic. Anyway, in very short order, we were asked by a museum representative to leave that corner, and since technically our permit said the NW corner, and because it’s the Murrah memorial and they have some legitimate grounds for paranoia, we moved to our third and final corner. Our NLG attorney is investigating the feds’ right to prevent us protesting on ‘their’ sidewalk outside the security barricades, so stay tuned.

We had 12 come out on pretty short notice — actually not bad for OKC. But we plan to do another on 10/5 with speakers and hopefully press coverage (though that is very hard to get here).

The attached pictures show one of us, a man holding a “Veteran for Peace” sign (John Walters), being the last hold out on the original corner, as law enforcement gave him the final notice to leave before arresting him. He at that point complied and joined us on corner 3.

stop_fbi_raids

(click image for more photos)

The organizers denounce the attacks on free speech, freedom of association, and the right to dissent that these actions represent. The raids and summonses reflect escalating hostility toward individuals and groups working in solidarity with the Palestinian and Colombian people and are blatantly political attacks on peaceful activists and an abuse of prosecutorial discretion.

The OKC action, one of many across the country in the days following the raids, will take place on Thursday, September 30 from 4:30 – 5:30 pm at the corner of NW 6th St. and Harvey. While no activists or groups in Oklahoma were the subject of the raids, the organizers say that they are concerned such events anywhere serve to intimidate peace organizers and suppress the right to dissent everywhere.

“The National Lawyers Guild is working to provide legal support to activists who are the subjects of these raids,” said James M. Branum of NLG. “We have set up a a national hotline for U.S. activists who get contacted by the FBI. Callers will be referred to NLG defense attorneys in their area.”

A national network to address and counter the harassment has been created and will plan future actions across the country and seek legislative changes to end the practice. Oklahoma activists will be part of that effort.

Info:

Press release from National Lawyers Guild:

http://nlgok.org/2010/09/29/nlg-press-release-on-fbi-raids/

Resources to protect dissent:

http://nlgok.org/protect-dissent/

What: Solidarity March in Support of Bradley Manning
When: Thursday, August 12, 8pm
Where: Corner of NE 16th and Lincoln to Oklahoma State Capitol

This Thursday, August 12, Oklahomans will show support for and solidarity with Pfc. Bradley Manning, accused of leaking documents about the Afghanistan War, with a march at dusk near the state capitol. The Army intelligence analyst, originally from Cresent, Oklahoma, is being held in the brig at Quantico Marine Corps Base in Virginia.

The action is being organized locally by the Oklahoma Center for Conscience, with support from the Oklahoma Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild.

Private First Class Bradley Manning, a 22-year-old intelligence analyst stationed in Iraq, stands accused of disclosing a classified video depicting American troops in Iraq shooting civilians from an Apache helicopter in 2007. Eleven people were killed, including two Reuters employees, and two children were critically injured. No charges have been filed against the soldiers who did the killing.

News sources have also speculated about Manning’s involvement in the leak of over 90,000 secret documents (collectively known as the Afghanistan “war logs”) made public by WikiLeaks, a website that publishes leaked material anonymously.

James M. Branum, an attorney that works with OCC on military law cases, calls the Pentagon’s treatment of Manning “extreme” and designed to set up the case “as an example of the punishment waiting for others who would consider exposing violations of military regs and international law.”

“We are saying that exposing war crimes is not a crime,” he said.

The whistleblower behind the Vietnam era’s Pentagon Papers, Daniel Ellsberg, has called Mr. Manning a hero. ”I admire the courage of Bradley Manning for sacrificing himself to make the public aware of the futility of the war in Afghanistan,” says Ellsberg.

“Blowing the whistle on war crimes is not a crime,” says former Marine Corporal Jeff Paterson of Courage to Resist, a group teaming up with the Bradley Manning Support Network to raise funds for Manning’s defense.

More info:

http://www.bradleymanning.org/

http://www.couragetoresist.org/x/content/blogcategory/64/122/

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/search/node/Bradley%20Manning

Two CLE seminars will be presented during the conference.

• Military law and war resisters – James Branum
• immigration consequences of war resistance – John Wheat Gibson

At least 3 hours CLE should be available for each, for a total of 6.

The conference hours are from 9 AM to 5 PM on Oct. 10 and from 9 AM to Noon on Oct. 11. The location is Under the Hood Cafe, an alternative space for soldiers from nearby Ft. Hood and the hub of war resistance in the area.

Under the Hood is located at 17 S. College St., Killeen, TX [Map]

Anyone is welcome. Donations requested.